Archive of previous NTS Skeptical News listings

Tuesday, February 12, 2002

The 10 Most Puzzling Ancient Artifacts

Over the last few hundred years, many perplexing artifacts have been unearthed
that do not fit the currently excepted theories of geology and the history of
man.

The Bible tells us that God created Adam and Eve just a few thousand years ago,
by some fundamentalist interpretations. Science informs us that this is mere
fiction and that man is a few million years old, and that civilization just
tens of thousands of years old. Could it be, however, that conventional
science is just as mistaken as the Bible stories? There is a great deal of
archeological evidence that the history of life on earth might be far different
that what current geological and anthropological texts tell us. Consider these
astonishing finds:

The Grooved Spheres
Over the last few decades, miners in South Africa have been digging up
mysterious metal spheres. Origin unknown, these spheres measure approximately
an inch or so in diameter, and some are etched with three parallel grooves
running around the equator. Two types of spheres have been found: one is
composed of a solid bluish metal with flecks of white; the other is hollowed
out and filled with a spongy white substance. The kicker is that the rock in
which they where found is Precambrian - and dated to 2.8 billion years old!
Who made them and for what purpose in unknown.

The Dropa Stones
In 1938, an archeological expedition led by Dr. Chi Pu Tei into the
Baian-Kara-Ula mountains of China made an astonishing discovery in some caves
that had apparently been occupied by some ancient culture. Buried in the dust
of ages on the cave floor were hundreds of stone disks. Measuring about nine
inches in diameter, each had a circle cut into the center and was etched with a
spiral groove, making it look for all the world like some ancient phonograph
record some 10,000 to 12,000 years old. The spiral groove, it turns out, is
actually composed of tiny hieroglyphics that told the incredible story of
spaceships from some distant world that crash-landed in the mountains. The
ships were piloted by people who called themselves the Dropa, and the remains
of whose descendents, possibly, were found in the cave.

The Ica Stones
Beginning in the 1930s, the father of Dr. Javier Cabrera, Cultural
Anthropologist for Ica, Peru, discovered many hundreds of ceremonial burial
stones in the tombs of the ancient Incas. Dr. Cabrera, carrying on his
father's work, has collected more than 1,100 of these andesite stones, which
are estimated to be between 500 and 1,500 years old and have become known
collectively as the Ica Stones. The stones bear etchings, many of which are
sexually graphic (which was common to the culture), some picture idols and
others depict such practices as open-heart surgery and brain transplants. The
most astonishing etchings, however, clearly represent dinosaurs - brontosaurs,
triceratops (see photo), stegosaurus and pterosaurs. While skeptics consider
the Ica Stones a hoax, their authenticity has neither been proved or disproved.

The Antikythera Mechanism
A perplexing artifact was recovered by sponge-divers from a shipwreck in 1900
off the coast of Antikythera, a small island that lies northwest of Crete. The
divers brought up from the wreck a great many marble and and bronze statues
that had apparently been the ship's cargo. Among the findings was a hunk of
corroded bronze that contained some kind of mechanism composed of many gears
and wheels. Writing on the case indicated that it was made in 80 B.C., and
many experts at first thought it was an astrolabe, an astronomer's tool. An
X-Ray of the mechanism, however, revealed it to be far more complex, containing
a sophisticated system of differential gears. Gearing of this complexity was
not known to exist until 1575! It is still unknown who constructed this
amazing instrument 2,000 years ago or how the technology was lost.

The Baghdad Battery
Today batteries can be found in any grocery, drug, convenience and department
store you come across. Well, here's a battery that's 2,000 years old! Known
as the Baghdad Battery, this curiosity was found in the ruins of a Parthian
village believed to date back to between 248 B.C. and 226 A.D. The device
consists of a 5-1/2-inch high clay vessel inside of which was a copper cylinder
held in place by asphalt, and inside of that was an oxidized iron rod. Experts
who examined it concluded that the device needed only to be filled with an acid
or alkaline liquid to produce an electric charge. It is believed that this
ancient battery might have been used for electroplating objects with gold. If
so, how was this technology lost... and the battery not rediscovered for
another 1,800 years?

The Coso Artifact
While mineral hunting in the mountains of California near Olancha during the
winter of 1961, Wallace Lane, Virginia Maxey and Mike Mikesell found a rock,
among many others, that they thought was a geode - a good addition for their
gem shop. Upon cutting it open, however, Mikesell found an object inside that
seemed to be made of white porcelain. In the center was a shaft of shiny
metal. Experts estimated that it should have taken about 500,000 years for
this fossil-encrusted nodule to form, yet the object inside was obviously of
sophisticated human manufacture. Further investigation revealed that the
porcelain was surround by a hexagonal casing, and an X-Ray revealed a tiny
spring at one end. Some who have examined the evidence say it looks very much
like a modern-day spark plug. How did it get inside a 500,000-year-old rock?

Ancient Model Aircraft
There are artifacts belonging to ancient Egyptian and Central American cultures
that look amazingly like modern-day aircraft. The Egyptian artifact, found in
a tomb at Saqquara, Egypt in 1898, is a six-inch wooden object that strongly
resembles a model airplane, with fuselage, wings and tail. Experts believe the
object is so aerodynamic that it is actually able to glide. The small object
discovered in Central America (shown at right), and estimated to be 1,000 years
old, is made of gold and could easily be mistaken for a model of a delta-wing
aircraft - or even the Space Shuttle. It even features what looks like a
pilot's seat.

Giant Stone Balls of Costa Rica
Workmen hacking and burning their way through the dense jungle of Costa Rica to
clear an area for banana plantations in the 1930s stumbled upon some incredible
objects: dozens of stone balls, many or which were perfectly spherical. They
varied in size from as small as a tennis ball to an astonishing 8 feet in
diameter and weighing 16 tons! Although the great stone balls are clearly
man-made, it is unknown who made them, for what purpose and, most puzzling, how
they achieved such spherical precision.

Impossible Fossils
Fossils, as we learned in grade school, appear in rocks that were formed many
thousands of years ago. Yet there are a number of fossils that just don't make
geological or historical sense. A fossil of a human handprint, for example,
was found in limestone estimated to be 110 million years old. What appears to
be a fossilized human finger found in the Canadian Arctic also dates back 100
to 110 million years ago. And what appears to be the fossil of a human
footprint, possibly wearing a sandal, was found near Delta, Utah in a shale
deposit estimated to be 300 million to 600 million years old.

Out-of-Place Metal Objects
Humans were not even around 65 million years ago, never mind people who could
work metal. So then how does science explain semi-ovoid metallic tubes dug out
of 65-million-year-old Cretaceous chalk in France? In 1885, a block of coal
was broken open to find a metal cube obviously worked by intelligent hands. In
1912, employees at an electric plant broke apart a large chunk of coal out of
which fell an iron pot! A nail was found embedded in a sandstone block from
the Mesozoic Era. And there are many, many more such anomalies.

What are we to make of these finds? There are several possibilities:

Intelligent humans date back much, much further than we realize.
Other intelligent beings and civilizations existed on earth far beyond our
recorded history.
Our dating methods are completely inaccurate, and that stone, coal and fossils
form much more rapidly than we now estimate.
In any case, these examples - and there are many more - should prompt any
curious and open-minded scientist to reexamine and rethink the true history of
life on earth.

Onion: Archaeologist tired of unearthing unspeakable ancient evils

HASAKE, SYRIA-When archaeologist Edward Whitson joined a Penn
State University dig in Hasake last year, he did so to participate in
the excavation of a Late Bronze Age settlement rich in pottery shards
and clay figurines. Whitson had hoped to determine whether the items
contained within the site were primarily Persian or Assyrian in
origin.

Instead, he found himself fleeing giant flying demon-cats as he
ran through the temple's cavernous halls, jumping from ledge to ledge
while locked in a desperate struggle for his life and soul for what
seemed like the thousandth time in his 27-year career.

"All I wanted to do was study the settlement's remarkably
well-preserved kiln," said the 58-year-old Whitson, carefully
recoiling the rope he had just used to clamber out of a pit filled
with giant rats. "I didn't want to be chased by yet another accursed
manifestation of an ancient god-king's wrath."

Over the course of his career, Whitson has been frequently
lauded by colleagues for his thorough, methodical examinations of
ancient peoples. He has also been chased by the snake-bodied ophidian
women of Al'lat in Israel, hunted down by Mayan coyote specters
manifested out of lost time and shadow in the Yucatan, and hounded by
the Arctic-sky-filling Walrus Bone Woman of the early Inuits.

"It's true, I've got to stop reading the inscriptions on
ancient door seals out loud," Whitson said. "I also need to quit
dusting off medallions set into strange sarcophagi, allowing the
light to hit them for the first time in centuries. And replacing the
jewels that have fallen from the foreheads of ancient frog-deity
statues-that's just bad archaeological practice."

Whitson added that he hopes one day to excavate an ancient
Egyptian monastery or marketplace without hearing the ear-splitting
shrieks of the undead while being swarmed by green-glowing
carnivorous stink beetles.

"I realize I'm entering grounds that are considered sacred to
these people," Whitson said. "But that doesn't mean I deserve to be
pelted with poison-tipped darts shot from cavern walls. A simple 'Do
Not Enter' sign in hieroglyphics would suffice."

Turning to the subject of his latest incident at a dig site in
Peru, Whitson maintains he was not at fault for summoning the forces
of evil.

"I was just idly rearranging flint sickle blades that had
already been catalogued. Apparently, I spelled out the true name of a
long-dead god-priest," Whitson said. "Can't a man even clean up his
work area without inadvertently conjuring up a pack of
lightning-breathing ocelots?"

Making matters worse, such encounters have had little to no
scientific value.

"It's always, 'I will drink your soul' or 'I will chew the
flesh from your bones' with these hellish apparitions," Whitson said.
"When I ask them if that means the ancient Etruscans did, in fact,
add copper to their mixing clay to make their urns more sturdy, they
don't even seem to hear me."

Worn down by nearly three decades of peril, Whitson said he
plans to move off the front lines to become a museum curator or
in-office researcher.

"It's unfortunate," Whitson said. "Nothing quite compares to
being out in the field on an actual dig. But the reality is, I'm
really starting to hate almost getting killed all the time."

A Fresno public charter school created by Muslims that sprouted 14
satellite campuses from the Bay Area to Southern California was shut down
last night for safety, finance and education violations.

The Fresno Unified School District board voted unanimously to revoke
Gateway Academy's charter after finding that the school had $1.3 million in
debt, teachers without credentials, employees without criminal background
checks and falsified attendance records.

Cults prompt China to boost science literacy

The China Association for Science and Technology — the country's main body
responsible for raising public awareness of science — has launched a
nationwide campaign to spread basic scientific knowledge among its 1.3
billion people.

The move partly reflects a desire to counter the 'pseudoscientific'
information propagated by popular cults. It comes shortly after the
publication of a survey carried out by the association that revealed a high
level of scientific illiteracy in China (see Chinese science literacy low
but rising).

The new campaign will focus on community-based scientific exhibitions, and
on setting up courses to provide basic scientific information to Chinese
citizens. According to a spokesman for the organisation, efforts will be
made to increase the general level of scientific knowledge among government
officials.

The government's desire to combat the low level of scientific literacy has
been heightened by its fight against the Falungong movement which, the
government says, communicates a large amount of 'unscientific' knowledge
among more than two million followers.

The association has proposed that every province and city in China should
build a science museum, and has offered to help universities and research
institutes hold public meetings as part of its efforts to spread scientific
knowledge.

One month ago, the association and the publicity department of China's
ruling Communist Party jointly launched a science popularisation movement
among the country's vast rural areas, using a motorcade carrying scientific
exhibitions and science communicators that will travel to eight Chinese
provinces.

A Chilean faith healer allegedly told a woman to carry all of her money
with her - and then stole her life savings.

The victim claims the healer told her keeping her savings with her would
improve her sense of self-worth.

But she says she was hypnotised and robbed of about £1,000 at her next
session with the healer.

Alejandra V, 30, said the healer told her she was cured and could go home
when she awoke from her trance.

But when she got back to her home in Santiago, she realised all her money
had disappeared.

Alejandra told police that the healer told her she was a victim of black
magic and needed exorcising.

At the healing sessions, the woman said lots of prayers and spells and on
one occasion boiled an egg in Alejandra's urine, she said.

Detectives told newspaper Las Ultimas Noticias that the healer had
disappeared and they had no clues to her whereabouts.

Science In the News

The following roundup of science stories appearing each day in the general
media is compiled by the Media Resource Service, Sigma Xi's referral
service
for journalists in need of sources of scientific expertise.

If you experience any problems with the URLs (page not found, page
expired,
etc.), we suggest you proceed to the home page of "Science In the News"
http://www.mediaresource.org/news.htm which mirrors the daily e-mail
update.

IN THE NEWS

Today's Headlines - February 12, 2002

TOXIC CLOUDS BILLOWED ABOVE TWIN TOWERS SITE
from The San Francisco Chronicle

The terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center last September
exposed New Yorkers downwind to the most hazardous plumes of extremely
fine
chemical and metal particles that experts have ever seen, University of
California scientists reported yesterday.

As the twin towers collapsed into flaming rubble after they were hit by
two
hijacked airliners, wind gusts continued sending up thick clouds
containing
millions of the particles for weeks afterward.

The unprecedented pollution was far worse than that from the Kuwait oil
field fires set by Iraq during the Gulf War or the soot-filled air from
Beijing's wintertime coal-burning furnaces, said UC Davis researcher
Thomas
Cahill, a specialist in analyzing airborne particles who led a team
investigating the catastrophe's consequences for the Department of Energy.

"Those particles downwind over New York were like nothing we've ever seen
anywhere," Cahill said in an interview yesterday as he and his colleagues
released a preliminary report on the team's findings. Cahill heads the UC
Davis DELTA Group -- the term stands for Detection and Evaluation of Long-
Range Transport of Aerosols -- that has analyzed particulate hazards all
over the world.

AFGHANISTAN PREPARES TO REBUILD BUDDHA
from The San Francisco Chronicle

London -- As the Afghan people slowly try to rebuild their country and
institutions after the war against the Taliban and al Qaeda, experts are
taking stock of the most recent destruction of the country's rich cultural
heritage -- the obliteration of statues of Buddha.

"The situation is grim," said Paul Bucherer-Dietschi, director of
Bibliotheca Afghanica, a library and research institute in Switzerland. He
recently returned from a UNESCO-sponsored tour of Afghanistan to assess
what
could be salvaged of the destroyed Buddhas in Bamiyan and the Kabul
Museum.

The two giant Buddhas (170 and 114 feet high) and a smaller one (about 26
feet) had stood in Bamiyan for more than 15 centuries before being blasted
into dust last March. The al Qaeda leaders and the Taliban saw them as an
affront to Islam. The tallest of the statues was the largest Buddha in the
world.

"All three statues were 100 percent destroyed," Bucherer-Dietschi said
during a recent visit to London. "It was a very professional job."

A region of the brain a few inches behind the bridge of the nose may hold
the key to why some people have a negative outlook on life, scientists
announced yesterday.

The study published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy
of
Sciences is the first to examine the neurological roots of what scientists
call "negative affect," a trait that predisposes people to anxiety,
irritability, anger and a range of other unpleasant moods.

By suggesting that an unconscious disposition toward these emotions may be
molded by a specific area in the brain, the research moves into previously
uncharted waters. It is part of a broad effort by neuroscientists in
recent
years to use powerful brain imaging technology to pinpoint the areas of
the
brain responsible for various emotions.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 - At first glance, President Bush's proposed budget
for
the 2003 fiscal year includes a healthy increase for scientific research
and
development: $8.6 billion, or 8.3 percent, to a record $111.8 billion.

But a closer look shows that the scientific budgets for most agencies will
remain level or even decline under the president's plan.

The big winners, it turns out, are in just two agencies, each with a heavy
emphasis on security in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. One, the Defense
Department research budget, would receive $5.4 billion more than in 2002,
a
10.9 percent increase, and the other, the National Institutes of Health,
would receive $3.7 billion, or 15.7 percent, more.

Of the overall $8.6 billion increase, more than $3 billion would go to
antiterrorism activity like vaccines and treatments for biological attack,
and to homeland security, with the health institutes and the Pentagon
receiving most of that money. Most of the Pentagon's added research budget
is earmarked for weapons.

LOOKING ANEW AT NUCLEAR POWER FOR SPACE TRAVEL
from The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 - NASA says the future of space exploration is rooted
in
the past, and it is time to look again at nuclear power as the way to the
stars.

Years after largely abandoning efforts to apply atomic power to space,
NASA
last week announced a Nuclear Systems Initiative that it said could
jump-start space exploration within a decade. Tucked away in the Bush
administration's proposed 2003 budget for the agency is $125.5 million to
begin moving NASA into a new nuclear age.

In the early days of the space program, NASA looked into nuclear-powered
rockets as a possible means of sending humans to Mars and other planets.
The
agency tested some atomic rocket engines, but abandoned the effort because
no missions arose to use them. In the new program, nuclear reactors would
not directly produce thrust to propel rockets as in the earlier program,
but
would be activated when far from Earth, to supply power for other types of
engines.

A controversial Kentucky-based fertility specialist said yesterday he
plans
to begin efforts next month to clone a human being.

Panayiotis Zavos, a retired University of Kentucky professor, told the
Globe
that his international team has selected 10 infertile couples to
participate
in the procedure. Several of the couples are American, but the cloning
attempts will take place in another country, which Zavos would not
disclose.

Zavos predicted success by year's end. ''We will definitely make this
work.
We've done a great deal of work,'' he said. ''We will have mishaps ...
This
has not been done before.''

Zavos has boasted he would be the first to clone a human. Although he has
little academic reputation, often speaks in hyperbole, and maintains tight
secrecy around his work, scientists take his claims seriously. ''Can he do
this technically? He probably can,'' said Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch, a cloning
expert at the MIT-affiliated Whitehead Institute in Cambridge.

After Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan lost $26 million last year,
the hospital decided it needed a few new superstar physicians. So the New
York teaching center turned to Boston, where it spent millions to lure
away
four top surgeons from Brigham and Women's Hospital and build a new
surgery
program.

Last week, Mount Sinai bought a full-page national ad in The New York
Times
to trumpet that it had hired a world-renowned team of cardiac and thoracic
surgeons from Harvard Medical School, the Brigham's university affiliate.
''The best just got better,'' the Upper East Side hospital declared.

Mount Sinai's recruitment coup took about 20 percent of the Brigham's
cardiothoracic surgeons and four support staff. The terms of the deal are
secret, but doctors say it involved a ''seven-figure salary'' for the lead
surgeon, Dr. David H. Adams, and the promise of seven newly renovated
operating rooms for his team.

A severe winter storm in mid-January killed as many as 270 million monarch
butterflies in the mountains of central Mexico, the largest known die- off
ever of the species, researchers say.

"I've been going down there for 25 years and I've never seen anything like
it," said Dr. Lincoln Brower, a butterfly biologist. "It was really
macabre."

Most of the monarchs in the two biggest colonies in Mexico were killed in
the storm, according to a new report by Brower and a team of researchers
from Mexico and the United States. However, the loss of life is not
expected
to threaten the species, they said.

Brower, of Sweet Briar College in Virginia, estimates that 74 percent of
the
monarchs at the Sierra Chincua colony and 80 percent at the Rosario colony
had been killed. Along with a few smaller colonies, which scientists have
not surveyed, the butterflies in these major colonies make up the entire
breeding stock of monarchs for the eastern United States and Canada.

A RESOLUTION

Commending the State Board of Education for
Supporting the Teaching Cosmic and Geological Evolution
and Opposing the Forced Teaching of "Intelligent Design", a Creationist Belief, in Public School Science Education

WHEREAS, it is a responsibility of the Ohio Academy of Science to preserve the integrity of science; and

WHEREAS, science is a systematic method of continuing investigation, based on observation, hypothesis testing, measurement, experimentation, and theory building, which leads
to more adequate explanations of natural phenomena, explanations that are open to further testing, revision, and falsification, and while not "believed in" through
faith may be accepted or rejected on the basis of evidence; and

WHEREAS, the theory of evolution, as presently defined, fully satisfies these criteria, especially when its teaching considers the remaining debates concerning its detailed
mechanisms; and

WHEREAS, under the authority of Senate Bill 55, the State Board of Education is required to develop and test competencies of students in science and other areas of education;

WHEREAS, the State Board of Education has included cosmic and geological evolution in the recently adopted 12th grade science competencies;

WHEREAS, the State Board of Education recently rejected an effort to include "Intelligent Design" in the 12th grade competencies;

WHEREAS, these actions of the State Board of Education have elevated Ohio into a leadership position in science education among all states;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that The Ohio Academy of Science commends the State Board of Education for its vision and integrity in recognizing the significance of cosmic
and geological evolution and resisting efforts of some creationists to impose their religious views, masked as "intelligent design", as if this were science.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the OAS urges citizens, educational authorities, and legislators to commend the State Board of Education for their recent actions to include
cosmic and geological evolution in 12th grade competencies and to oppose the compulsory inclusion in the state competencies and proficiency tests for science
education of religious beliefs that are not amenable to the process of scrutiny, testing, and revision that is indispensable to science.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the OAS urges citizens, educational authorities including the State Board of Education and the Ohio Board of Regents, and legislators to include,
explicitly, not only cosmic and geological evolution but also biological evolution in the curricula, state competencies and proficiency tests for science education.

ADOPTED March 31, 2000 by the Board of Trustees of The Ohio Academy of Science; based on a similar resolution adopted by the Academy on February 28, 2000.

In this just-released book, William Dembski
argues that Darwin's theory does not mean that life was unintended.
Dembski extends his theory of intelligent design, and building on his
earlier work in The Design Inference (Cambridge, 1998), he defends
that life must be the product of intelligent design.

More from Ohio

This installment was prepared with a mighty assist from John Calvert, a retired Kansas City attorney who was one of the friends of freedom who came forward
to help in the Kansas Controversy of 1999. Eventually the Darwinists were able to employ their media monopoly and political power to intimidate the people of
Kansas and defeat some of the courageous state school board members for re-election, whereupon the new board bowed to their will. I recall Senator Sam
Brownback of Kansas asking me if I was discouraged by the defeat. Not at all, I answered. We have raised new forces, and forged an alliance between groups
that were formerly suspicious of each other. We will fight again, and eventually the leaders of science will learn that the costs of imposing a pseudoscientific
materialism on America are too great for them to bear.

Happy birthday, Charlie!

$20,000 Offer to U.S.-licensed medical doctors

THE FOLLOWING OFFER is made to U.S.-licensed medical doctors who routinely
administer childhood vaccinations and to pharmaceutical company CEOs
worldwide:

Jock Doubleday, president of the California nonprofit corporation Natural
Woman, Natural Man, Inc., hereby offers $20,000.00 (U.S.) to the first
medical
doctor or pharmaceutical company CEO who publicly drinks a mixture of
standard
vaccine additive ingredients in the same amount as a six-year-old child is
recommended to receive under the year-2000 guidelines of the U.S. Centers
for
Disease Control and Prevention.

The mixture will not contain viruses or bacteria dead or alive, but will
contain standard vaccine additive ingredients in their usual forms and
proportions. The mixture will include, but will not be limited to:
thimerosal
(a mercury derivative), ethylene glycol (antifreeze), phenol (a
disinfectant
dye), benzethonium chloride (a disinfectant), formaldehyde (a preservative
and
disinfectant), and aluminum. The mixture will be prepared by Jock
Doubleday,
three medical professionals that he names, and three medical professionals
that
the participant names. The mixture will be body weight calibrated.

The participant agrees, and any and all agents and associates of the
participant agree, to indemnify and hold harmless in perpetuity any and
all
persons, organizations, or entities associated with the event for any harm
caused, or alleged to be caused, directly or indirectly, to the
participant or
indirectly to the participant´s heirs, relations, employers, employees,
colleagues, associates, or other persons, organizations, or entities
claiming
association with, or representation of, the participant, by the
participant´s
participation in the event.

Because the participant is either a professional caregiver who routinely
administers childhood vaccinations, or a pharmaceutical company CEO whose
business is, in part, the sale of childhood vaccines, it is understood by
all
parties that the participant considers all vaccine additive ingredients to
be
safe and that the participant considers any mixture containing these
ingredients to be safe.

The event will be held within six months of the participant´s written
agreement to the above and further elaborated terms. This offer, dated
January
29, 2001, has no expiration date unless superceded by a similar offer of
higher
remuneration.

American youth: religion is an important part of life

Public Release: 8-Feb-2002 ET
American youth: religion is an important part of life
An overwhelming majority of American youth believe religion is an important part of life. Eighty-six percent of Americans
aged 11 to 18 believe that religion is an important part of their lives, according to a national survey of 2,004 randomly
selected households.

It's an exciting week here at the sprawling suburban Weird Chronicles offices. For months now, we've been patient.
We've watched the wires, cast the runes, and done auguries on interns trying to find evidence of the elusive creature
known as Bigfoot.

We had a full Red Alert last November, but it was just one of the neighbor's kids home for Thanksgiving break. He gave
up bathing and shaving, and has been living on takeout pizza and put on a lot of weight. That still doesn't explain why
he was snacking on my compost heap, but it was a false alarm nonetheless.

The Tide Turns

Thanks to alert field reporter Jason Hanna, in Indianapolis, we now have our proof! A combination of
sharp-eyed Hoosiers and good Indiana mud has yielded solid evidence of the presence of the large, hairy
creature in the heartland.

The picture at right was taken on some property near Rick Deckard's home in Monroe County, Ind.
Deckard is one of several people in and around the Hoosier National Forest, in the hills of Monroe County
south of Bloomington, who have reported signs or sightings of a mysterious, upright-walking creature in
the past few years.

The usual academic types, led by Russ Grunden (who, from his picture at left,
may be related to our furry friend), of the Indiana Department of Natural
Resources, have come out of the woodwork saying that the prints were made by an exotic pet, a kid playing tricks,
swamp gas, weather balloons, or any of the usual excuses.

Just one problem, Russ old pal: look at how DEEP those prints are. They were made by something weighing well
more than 200 pounds. That rules out the neighbor-kid theory. According to Rick and others, there is a distinct bipedal
pattern to the tracks, so the "exotic animal" theory is out, unless someone's got a missing lowland gorilla.

Once, just ONCE, I want one of these academic/government types to step out and admit that it's just remotely possible that they don't have
everything that crawls, walks, flies or slithers catalogued yet.

Oh, and Rick? Make sure they get the mud stains out of my fur boots. I'll be back up there this weekend!

Cartman Would Be Proud

The Eagle County Sheriff's Office, in Burns, Colo., is baffled. Recently, a number of the bovine residents
of the area have gone missing. One rancher, Pat Luark, is missing no less than 22 animals.

The sheriff jokingly claims to have ruled out alien abductions. We know better, don't we, folks? The
sheriff claims the culprits must be rustlers or natural predators, but no evidence of either has yet been
found.

I'm betting that the aliens were watching me cook and devour one of my patented flame-grilled ribeyes
and developed a taste for beef. Look for a saucer trailing the distinct odor of mesquite smoke.

Star sign campaign boosts fortunes of tree planting

Authorities in western India are using local beliefs in astrology to drive
people towards planting more trees.

They are persuading villagers to plant saplings according to their sun
signs.

An increase in greenery has been reported in Gujarat following the start
of
the forest department's campaign.

Thousands of people have taken to planting trees after going through
charts
identifying various plants with the planets.

Many locals claim their lives have taken a positive turn after they had
planted saplings, reports the Jagriti newspaper.

Jakubhai Gala, a farmer from Savli village near Baroda, whose sun sign is
Virgo, claims he could marry off all his three daughters within a year of
planting a fig tree.

He said: "I am convinced trees have powers to influence our fate."

Teacher Mahendra Trivedi, a Leo, found all his health problems
disappearing
after he planted an asopalav - a mast tree. "Because of indifferent health
my performance as a teacher was greatly reduced. Now not only have I been
promoted, I am the most popular man in school," he said.

Ramesh Patel, Deputy Conservator of Forests, said: "The astrological tree
plantation concept has worked wonders for the people as well as the
environment. We are encouraged to try it out in other areas."

Geminis 'most accident-prone drivers'

A new survey of Australian accident insurance claims suggests Geminis are
the most likely to have a crash.

The survey of Australian accident insurance claims shows Taurean and
Piscean drivers come in second and third place.

Suncorp Metway's survey shows Capricorns are least likely to have
accidents. The company isn't planning to base its premiums on people's
star
sign.

"Geminis, typically described as restless, easily bored and frustrated by
things moving slowly, had more car accidents than any other sign," Warren
Duke, Suncorp's national manager of personal insurance, told The
Courier-Mail.

Taureans are thought to be stubborn and inflexible, Pisceans are
risk-takers and dare-devils, while Capricorns are generally thought of as
patient, he added.

The study is based on 160,000 car accident insurance claims over the last
three years.

Items of Interest

I just received an e-mail from a television documentary producer who is
evidently working on an hour-long program dealing with "the explosion of
'alternative' medical therapies offered for pets and other animals." She
is interested in "exploring the range of possible outcomes for these
treatments." If any hot-line subscribers have had a veterinarian suggest
or provide an "alternative" therapy for one or more of your animals, I'd
appreciate hearing about it. I'd particularly like to know if such
unproven and/or disproved therapies were offered or provided in lieu of
ones of proven efficacy, and what the pertinent fees were. Please e-mail
me off-list regarding the particulars.

Hi all Don't forget that Skeptics in the Pub is starting up again for 2002. Our first meeting is John Wall who is an expert on
those who propose 'Alternative Histories' for the Earth, where 'Alternative' is very alternative indeed. I look forward to meeting you
all and hope to see you there, at the usual place, the Florence Nightingale Pub in central London at 7:30 pm on
Wednesday 20 February 2002. For more info (including how to get there instructions and a nice map) and for upcoming
speakers, please check out the web site www.skeptics.org.uk/pub.

An individual such panic/don't article is usually too minor to justify citing in
your "Articles of Note" lists. But the regularly-updated page is something
which would probably be of interest to your readers.

"Ashen-faced and weeping, ten-year-old Natalia Lulova sat dejectedly in a
Manhattan law office last week while her mother stroked her hair, consoling
her. Natalia, who with her family emigrated from Russia three years ago and
now lives in Brooklyn, had just failed to win a million dollar prize
offered by the James Randi Educational Foundation to anyone who can
demonstrate paranormal, supernatural or occult power. It was still another
of the seemingly endless setbacks to purveyors of the paranormal."

The latest challenge to evolution's primacy in the nation's
classrooms - the theory of intelligent design, not the old foe
creationism - will get a full- scale hearing next month before Ohio
Board of Education members, who are in a heated debate over whether
established science censors other views about the origins of life.

"ANGRY E-MAILS from readers are part of a journalist's job. We even welcome
them as a sign that someone's reading what we write and takes it seriously
enough to comment. Generally, though, we don't respond. We've had our say;
the readers theirs: time for both to move on."

"Graham Hancock doesn't look mad as he sprawls in an armchair in his small,
neat house in Kennington, south London. But his critics would say
appearances deceive: he is either a lunatic, a charlatan, or both. Hancock
has spent the past 10 years writing books and producing TV programmes which
argue that everything we are told about ancient history is wrong:
civilisation didn't start in Sumeria and Egypt around 3,500 BC; it began
10,000 years before in great cities which subsequently suffered a cataclysm."

"The Mothman Prophecies, a stylish new psychological thriller starring
Richard Gere, has all the elements of a particularly sophisticated episode
of The X-Files - a frightening red-eyed monster, sinister telepaths,
disturbing dreams, phantoms, paranoia and creeping madness. Yet the film is
based on real events that occurred over a 13-month period in Point
Pleasant, West Virginia, between 1966 and 1967."

The truth is out there. Bob Carroll -- professor by trade,
skeptic at heart -- is doing his best to find it.

Monday, February 11, 2002

Science In the News

The following roundup of science stories appearing each day in the general
media is compiled by the Media Resource Service, Sigma Xi's referral
service
for journalists in need of sources of scientific expertise.

If you experience any problems with the URLs (page not found, page
expired,
etc.), we suggest you proceed to the home page of "Science In the News"
http://www.mediaresource.org/news.htm which mirrors the daily e-mail
update.

IN THE NEWS

Today's Headlines - February 11, 2002

SCIENTISTS SHARING FEWER DISCOVERIES
from The Los Angeles Times

Scientists depend on openness for their research advances--many of which
the
public underwrites. More and more, however, they are keeping information
about their discoveries to themselves, new surveys show.

In the first detailed look at how scientists share information, analysts
at
Harvard University Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital
questioned 1,800 geneticists and others in the life sciences at the 100
U.S.
research universities that receive the most public funding from the
National
Institutes of Health.

They found that almost half of the scientists had been denied access to
information about published research. Their findings were recently
published
in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. The survey adds to a growing
body of research over the past decade that documents greater secrecy among
scientists and greater corporate control of university research.

MICE CREATED BY CLONING HAVE SHORTER LIFE SPANS, STUDY FINDS
from The Los Angeles Times

Cloned mice die earlier than mice conceived in natural ways, according to
research that suggests that cloning causes subtle abnormalities that may
not
be immediately detectable in animals that look healthy.

The study is small in size and thus not definitive. But it is the first to
examine the life span of cloned creatures. It joins several earlier
studies
that reported defects in cloned animals that survived to birth. Those
defects include abnormal body sizes and placentas as well as possible
immune
system problems. Some research also has suggested that a cellular
structure
that is related to aging may be abnormal in clones.

Scientists say the research, published in the journal Nature Genetics, is
one more piece of evidence that the genes of cloned creatures--because
they
come from adult cells instead of eggs and sperm--may not be properly
reprogrammed, leading to an array of developmental glitches. "I'm not
surprised at all," said Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch, professor of biology at the
Whitehead Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who has
cited safety concerns in his public opposition to the cloning of humans.
"It
has exactly confirmed my strong belief and that of others. I think that
most
clones, if not all, have subtle defects."

IN OHIO SCHOOL HEARING, A NEW THEORY WILL SEEK A PLACE ALONGSIDE EVOLUTION
from The New York Times

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 4 - The latest challenge to evolution's primacy in
the
nation's classrooms - the theory of intelligent design, not the old foe
creationism - will get a full- scale hearing next month before Ohio Board
of
Education members, who are in a heated debate over whether established
science censors other views about the origins of life.

"It's a stacked deck," said Deborah Owens-Fink, a state school board
member
and an outspoken supporter of the intelligent design movement.

Supporters of this theory acknowledge that the earth is billions of years
old, not thousands, as a literal reading of the Bible suggests. They also
accept that organisms change over time, according to commonly held
principles of evolution. But they dispute the idea that the astounding
complexity of the earth's plants and animals could have just happened
through natural selection, the force that Darwin suggested drives
evolution.

An intelligent designer - perhaps the God of Genesis, perhaps someone or
something else - had to get the ball rolling, they contend.

"This is not a fringe movement," said Ms. Owens-Fink, a marketing
professor
at the University of Akron. "I find it intellectually intriguing."

Christine Clark maintains a healthy diet, exercises regularly and avoids
alcohol and tobacco. She thought she would be the last person on earth to
get breast cancer. But last year, the 53-year-old Palo Alto, Calif.,
resident said, she became at least the sixth woman in her 50-house
neighborhood to contract some form of cancer over the past 12 years. "This
is only among the women I personally know," she added.

She suspects that a nearby electrical transformer station may be producing
unhealthy levels of electromagnetic radiation, but she does not know how
to
prove or disprove it. "I felt angry as hell when I was diagnosed," Clark
said. "I felt like I did everything possible to not get it. Every medical
person I talked to all said they have no idea what causes it. I personally
wish someone would investigate the environmental probabilities of this
happening."

Across the country, citizens have become increasingly aware that
toxic-waste
dumps, pesticides, power lines and other sources of pollution or emissions
may be creating cancer clusters in their communities. But many experts
feel
that cancer researchers and organizations tend to downplay these
environmental factors and focus instead on lifestyle and genetic causes of
cancer, leaving a big hole in our knowledge of the disease.

BAY AREA'S WINTER FOG MACHINE SWITCHES ON
from The San Francisco Chronicle

...Unlike California's summer fog, which is formed over the ocean and
moves
inland, the winter fog begins in the inner valleys and may migrate toward
the coast. The summer fog tends to rise as it moves in from the ocean,
forming a gray ceiling, but the winter variety hugs the ground.

It is not only perilous to drivers but maddening to fliers when it blacks
out airports. On Jan. 3, fogs delayed arriving flights at San Francisco
International Airport by more than six hours. Airport devices to dissipate
the mists seem to be of little use against the white aerial tides that
cover
the land and the bay.

The Bay Area's winter fogs are distinctive owing to the unique
configuration
of local geography, a combination of hill-and-valley topography with vast
areas of marshes and open water. Once, in the fields near Mount Diablo, I
saw the backs of cattle that were instinctively grazing on invisible grass
with their heads buried in the fog.

RESEARCHERS CLOSE IN ON ICE CREAM'S COLD SECRET
from The San Francisco Chronicle

Scientists are a step closer to understanding why ice cream feels cold --
and coincidentally, it has something to do with the cool, refreshing
flavor
of mint.

In a report published today, University of California at San Francisco
researchers describe a microscopic gateway on the surface of nerve cells
that responds identically to either a cold stimulus or to the chemical
menthol, an active ingredient in mint.

Menthol will cause certain receptors on the surface of nerve cells to
spring
open, flooding the cells with ions and triggering an electrical signal.
The
researchers used genetic engineering techniques to isolate the menthol
receptors.

Niels Bohr, the great Danish physicist, was known to push his scientific
debates mercilessly, pursuing at least one colleague to his sickbed to
drive
home a point. Michael Frayn portrayed him exactly that way in a play about
an argument between the dead spirits of Bohr and two others over what
happened in a hazily recalled meeting that they had in September 1941 in
Copenhagen, which was then occupied by the Nazis.

Even a writer of Mr. Frayn's considerable powers, however, could not have
taken into account the chance that the unmistakable voice of the real Bohr
might be heard from beyond the grave pressing his version of events -
demanding a few more lines, as it were - after the play, "Copenhagen," had
already finished its award-winning Broadway run and set out on a national
tour.

Bohr's rogue soliloquy is included in a previously secret series of draft
letters released by his family last week. The letters had been written but
never sent to Werner Heisenberg, the renowned physicist who led Hitler's
atomic bomb program and who went to Copenhagen in 1941 to meet Bohr and
his
wife, Margrethe, for reasons that have remained murky. The uncertainty
over
what actually occurred in a conversation between the two physicists as
they
went for a walk is the central conceit of Mr. Frayn's play, which had a
healthy run on Broadway and is about to open in Chicago and Washington.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, was
convinced that spiritualism worked, and that it was the religion that
everyone soon would practice. Harry Houdini, the showman and
escapologist, was convinced that he never found a conductor of séances
who used supernatural rather than fraudulent or erroneous means of
getting results. These two domineering personalities became unlikely
friends, for a five year period, sharing correspondence, dinners, and
holidays. Polidoro gives capsule biographies of both, with an
extensive account of the years when they were together, and thus
provides an excellent picture of spiritualism, rationality, and the
will to believe. Conan Doyle seems the more interesting figure,
especially in his insistent support of spiritualism in the face of
what would appear to be overwhelming counterevidence, some supplied by
Houdini himself.

Two of the most famous personalities of early in the last century
shared a strong interest in spiritualism, the belief that souls live
on after death and can be contacted by the living. Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle, the creator of the immortal Sherlock Holmes, was unassailably
convinced that spiritualism not only worked, but that it was the
religion that all of us soon would practice, once its truth were
known. Harry Houdini, the brilliant showman and escapologist, was
convinced of no such thing, but he was convinced that he never found a
conductor of séances who used supernatural rather than fraudulent or
erroneous means of getting results. These two domineering
personalities became unlikely friends, for a five year period, sharing
correspondence, dinners, and holidays. It isn't hard to believe that
the friendship foundered over their differences on the keen shared
interest, but it is surprising that the friendship ever existed.
Final Séance: The Strange Friendship between Houdini and Conan Doyle
(Prometheus) by Massimo Polidoro is a good supplement to the current
crop of biographies of both men. It gives capsule biographies of
both, with an extensive and annotated account of the years when they
were an item together, and thus provides an excellent picture of
spiritualism, rationality, and the will to believe.

In many of these pages, Doyle emerges as the more interesting figure
because he was obviously a thoughtful and sometimes brilliant man, and
it is a puzzle that he kept the belief in spirituality despite what
seems to be overwhelming evidence (some presented by Houdini himself).
He had abandoned Catholicism and then Christianity itself, becoming a
materialist and agnostic. In this period, he declared, "Never will I
accept anything which cannot be proved to me. The evils of religion
have all come from accepting things which cannot be proved." What
softened this stern skeptical stance was the carnage of World War I;
he lost his beloved son in the war, and along with many others got
comfort in the idea that departed loved ones could be contacted by
special means and could provide a reassuring presence. He changed
entirely from skepticism: "The objective side of it ceased to
interest, for having made up one's mind that it was true there was an
end of the matter. The religious side of it was clearly of infinitely
greater importance." Not only did he abandon objectivity, he seems to
have adopted the opinion that if he himself saw the phenomenon, then
it was a real manifestation, and could not be caused by the techniques
familiar to magicians. He found it difficult to believe that mediums
could be fraudulent, and was able to accept only that they sometimes
might use trickery if their powers unaccountably lapsed.

Houdini had, by the time of his first contact with Doyle, proved an
adept at stage magic, but his career had really taken off when he
started well publicized escapes from handcuffs, local jails, and
containers full of water. He was a compulsive collector of
memorabilia about magic (most of which is now in the Library of
Congress), and also about spiritualism. Escaping from handcuffs and
ropes had much to do with spiritualism, because often the mediums were
confined some way to "prove" to those sitting in séance that they were
not physically causing the effects, so Houdini's change from stage
performer to investigator was a natural one. Houdini was quite a
social climber, eager to be seen with important people in order to be
seen as important, too. Doyle was a famous author and lecturer, and
it is probable that Houdini started their acquaintance in around 1920
by sending Doyle The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin, in which Houdini
referred to the Davenport brothers, mediums who were securely tied up
but who could command the spirits to ring a bell or rap on the table
and so on.

Doyle responded in a way that was a sort of prediction of how their
friendship would go throughout. He was convinced that the Davenports
were genuine and never exposed, and it did not matter that Houdini
interviewed one of the then-elderly brothers who had admitted the
secret methods by which they had done their tricks. Doyle insisted
that they had never been exposed while performing, that they were mere
youths at the time and could not have practiced an elaborate trick,
and that "confessions" by reformed spiritualists were "an old trick of
the opposition."

Such a stance must have been exceedingly frustrating to Houdini. In
1922, Doyle tested a husband and wife team, the Zancigs, who
demonstrated telepathic transfer of thoughts between them. Houdini
recognized that they were using a clever, silent signaling system, a
good trick but a trick nonetheless. He even interviewed Professor
Zancig who gave his personal word that it was stage magic, not
telepathy, at work, but Doyle was undeterred: "The only thing I can't
understand is why Z. should wish to hide it [his telepathic gift] from
you, but I suppose people do try to cover the trail of how they do
things, and give fake information rather than true." Doyle even
believed that Houdini was performing his escape stunts by paranormal
means despite Houdini's assertions to the contrary. Sherlock Holmes
would not be fooled for a minute if Houdini could have provided him
the repeated evidence that mediums were frauds, but his creator
refused to back down. He was an intelligent man who trusted his
senses, and he wanted to believe; the wanting to believe in his
religious view of the afterlife struck down any evidence that might
have called such beliefs into question.

Houdini had a personal interest in the afterlife. Nothing would have
pleased him more than to have contacted his departed mother, for whom
he possessed an exaggerated love. However, he possessed the proper
attitude of the skeptic: he would have been happy to believe in the
phenomena if there were good evidence for them, but he never found
any. It was this lack of evidence at a personal level between Houdini
and Doyle that was to sever their friendship. While the Houdinis and
the Doyles were vacationing together, Lady Doyle offered to try to get
a message from Houdini's mother by a trance in which she did
"automatic writing," putting down on paper the words which the spirits
that possessed her during a séance wanted the onlookers to see. She
drew a cross at the top of the paper (Houdini's mother was Jewish) and
wrote such things as "Thank God, thank God, at last I 'm through" and
predicted that Houdini would get all the evidence he needed. Houdini
thought both the Doyles were completely sincere, but he knew that his
mother would not have written in English, a language she did not
understand. This did not cause an immediate rift, but when Houdini
wrote publicly later that he had never witnessed any sort of psychic
phenomena, Doyle took this as a personal insult, and the friendship
was over.

Houdini went on to organize against mediums, including lobbying for
ill-judged laws to ban spiritualism. He also offered large amounts of
money to anyone who could demonstrate "psychic" powers that he could
not explain or duplicate. As Polidoro shows in an intelligent
critique, this was a flawed argument; Houdini's ability to duplicate
an effect would not prove that the effect was not originally performed
in a psychic way. However, the offer lead the way for the more
comprehensive one by James Randi, who currently offers a million
dollars for a demonstration of psychic powers under controlled
conditions. No prize awarded yet. Houdini died in 1926, and Doyle
resumed a solicitous correspondence with the widow of the man who was
"in some ways, the most remarkable man I have ever known." Doyle died
four years later, believing still. Houdini did us all the service of
a final test; he was, if it was at all possible, to return and give
his wife a message agreed between them. Mediums did try to summon
him, and if anyone could have escaped from the reaches of "the other
world" to get her that message, the great escapologist would have
managed it. It never happened. John Edward, and you other people who
make money off other's desire to believe, please take note.

But let's not forget that ages-old religion that conjures up images of midnight rituals held on moonlighted bayous or in the back rooms off
foggy alleyways.

Voodoo -- or Vodou as scholars and practitioners prefer. With its mojos and mambos, its gris-gris and zombies, this gumbo of West
African rituals, Caribbean folklore and Roman Catholicism holds a mysterious, even sensual, appeal.

The Two Skepticisms

Who are "the skeptics" in America
today - the defenders of science and
rationality, the scrutinizers and
debunkers of dubious and unwarranted
claims?

The above question, stated in
deliberately broad terms, could
generate diverse answers. A variety of
intellectuals, organizations and
publications fit the bill. That might
sound like a good thing, if one is sympathetic (as I am) to a science-based
skepticism. But there's a problem. The skeptics tend to fall into two
groupings that don't often talk to one another, aren't sure if they like each
other, and fail to see how much they have in common.

48 two-page descriptions of UFO cases, with illustrations,
form the core of the book; the authors then interpret these and give
their general take on UFOs. Though UFO proponents, they're of the old
school, and do not want to wade into abduction waters too deeply.
Much of their commentary is, in fact, reasonable enough. They
emphasize a classification of UFO reports based on the shape of the
UFO, and make it clear that this is a diverse phenomenon with no
single explanation likely to fit all cases. Overall, a decent
introductory book for someone who wants to learn about UFOlogy.

Scientology reaches out ......

Scientology reaches out to troubled with ad campaign -- Billboards are
going up
in major U.S. cities claiming to have an answer for those in distress.
Some
mental health experts question the church's motive.
By DEBORAH O'NEIL, Times Staff Writer

For Americans troubled by economic uncertainty, fear and grief, 1,100
Church of
Scientology billboards going up in major U.S. cities claim to have an
answer:

"No matter how bad it is ... SOMETHING CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT."

The billboards are part of an unprecedented national media campaign by
Scientology to reach what it calls "a nation still troubled by the Sept. 11
attacks." But the blitz disturbs some mental health experts who express
concern about both the church's motive and its expertise in treating
emotional
distress. The advertisements promote the services of Scientology's
volunteer
ministers, parishioners trained in basic Scientology principles that the
church
says can solve problems ranging from grief to marital difficulties to drug
addiction. "Call a Scientology volunteer minister," the ads read:
1-800-HELP-4-YU. And while the billboards don't say so, the services are
free,
the church says. The Church of Scientology is spending $1.1-million on the
billboards, which have gone up in New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, San
Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose, Cincinnati, and this week in Clearwater.
More
are slated for Atlanta, Boston, Miami, Washington, D.C., Chicago, and St.
Louis. In New York alone, there are 1,000 billboards, many mounted in the
subway system. Clearwater, the spiritual headquarters of Scientology, is
getting eight, and some of those will rotate to Tampa.

It's a "pretty impressive" campaign, said Robert Coen, a longtime predictor
of
advertising spending and senior vice president at Universal McCann in New
York.
It doesn't match the efforts of mega brands such as Coca-Cola or Loreal, he
said, but for a single entity, it's "a significant effort to get their
message
across." The campaign grew out of Sept. 11, said spokeswoman Linda Simmons
Hight of the Church of Scientology International in Los Angeles. Since the
attacks, the ranks of the volunteer ministers have grown from 5,000 to
14,000,
she said. Scientologists wanted to help at ground zero, and many did.
"That's
what brought it together," Hight said. "We have volunteer ministers.
We're
soon to have 6,000 more and we can do something about any situation in
life."
Mental health leaders say the campaign looks like a recruitment technique
that
could mislead emotionally vulnerable people. "We are concerned Scientology
may
be playing on people's vulnerability to increase their membership," said
Cynthia Folcarelli, executive vice president of the National Mental Health
Association, the country's oldest and largest nonprofit mental health
research
and advocacy organization. "The (billboard) message clearly conveys the
idea,
"We understand you're in emotional stress and we can help,' " Folcarelli
said.
"We have seen the Scientologists present themselves in other settings as
mental
health counselors, when in fact they're not qualified to provide those
services." The National Mental Health Association criticized Scientology
soon
after the Sept. 11 attacks when the church promoted a hotline number under
the
heading "National Mental Health Assistance." The hotline scrolled across
the
bottom of the screen on Fox News, but made no mention of Scientology. The
cable news channel yanked it after being told of its Scientology
connection.

The Church of Scientology is opposed to psychiatry and psychology. Church
founder L. Ron Hubbard believed Scientology's applied religious philosophy
offered a better way to deal with life's pains and make people happier.
Volunteer ministers study a 19-chapter text called The Scientology
Handbook,
that provides lessons such as improving communication skills, resolving
conflicts, getting people off drugs, handling confusion in the workplace,
and
improving domestic relations. The ministers also learn how to conduct
"assists," procedures Scientologists believe help people overcome physical
or
emotional difficulty. It takes about 40 hours to complete all the
chapters,
although some volunteers study only select ones, said Sarah Gorgone, who
coordinates about 200 volunteer ministers in the Clearwater area. "They
have
the tools to be able to help people," Gorgone said. "If you have a friend
that's on drugs, and you're like, "I don't know what to do,' you feel
helpless.
If you have a tool to help your friend get off drugs, you feel better."

But Folcarelli said mental health professionals spend years studying and
are
licensed. "Mental health training is not a do-it-yourself proposition,"
she
said. "They (Scientologists) not only aren't trained to provide
counseling,
they reject what years of science and research have taught us about
appropriate
mental health intervention." Church leaders aren't surprised to hear
criticism
from "an industry that doesn't really have the technology to help people,
that
has false and misleading ideas about what constitutes the human mind and
spirit," Hight said. Volunteer ministers do not proselytize, nor is the
campaign about recruitment, she said. "It's Scientologists who have
solutions
to problems who are willing to go out of their way to share that with other
people," Hight said.

Kewl UFO crackpot book

I just found at my local library LEFT AT EAST GATE, a fat 1997 book by
Larry Warren and Peter Robbins; in 1980 Warren was a very young Yank
security cop at the (UK) Bentwaters US airforce base now known to have been
a store for lots of field nuclear weapons; there was a celebrated
`incident' two decades ago in which something X-Filish was witnessed by
various officers and servicemen. Reading past the cultish claptrap (Robbins
works with Budd Hopkins of abduction fame, and is a big fan of Reichian
orgonomy, speculating on the involvement of, ahem, `cloud buster'
technology), it actually does seem possible that Warren and some of his
pals were subjected to a Manchurian candidate-style brainfuck experiment by
the NSA or CIA or other black op outfit.

and a number of James Easton's other documents in his `Voyager Newsletter'.
My current guess is that Warren *was* indeed subjected to a Manchurian
candidate-style brainfuck--by the helpful UFO proponents who hypnotically
`regressed' his memories of those 1980 events and with little hints
contaminated them beyond all recognition. Oh, and of course he might have
been lying or confabulating under his own steam.

Ronson accompanies militiamen, questing reporters,
evangelists, Ku Klux Klansmen, fundamentalist Muslims, and others who
inhabit a realm of conspiracy. Apparently, there is a tiny elite of
powerful men who run everything, who decide who gets to be president
of any given country and who start the wars. They control Hollywood,
the broadcasters, the markets and capital flow. They operate harems
of sex slaves and they go to annual pagan rituals in different
appointed regions of the world. When no one is looking, they change
themselves into giant twelve-foot lizards, and any investigator who
gets to close to these truths has his credibility, or his corpus,
destroyed. An interesting lesson of the book is that "us" and "them"
are not always so easy to separate. And even when its many subjects
are nuts, or scary, _Them_ is often laugh-out-loud hilarious.
Ronson's reporting is dry and ironic. He knows that his subjects are
very, very weird, but he is never patronizing, and he is often
impressed by their sincerity.

At last it can be told. There is a tiny elite of powerful men
who run everything, who decide who gets to be president of any given
country
and who start the wars. They control Hollywood, the broadcasters, the
markets and capital flow. They operate harems of sex slaves and they go to
annual pagan rituals in different appointed regions of the world. When no
one is looking, they change themselves into giant twelve-foot lizards, and
any investigator who gets to close to these truths has his credibility, or
his corpus, destroyed.

Well, can you prove it isn't true? The great advantage of the paranoid
stance is that it can take in anything, and if it sounds too outlandish to
be true, "That's just what they want you to think." They? Who's they?
Learn the truth in Them: Adventures with Extremists (Simon and Schuster)
by Jon Ronson, or at least learn the truth as believed, with diverse
variations, by different fringe-dwellers all over the world. Ronson has
played Sancho Panza to militiamen, questing reporters, evangelists, Ku Klux
Klansmen, and fundamentalist Muslims. So far, the lizard men have not got
him, and somehow they slipped up and allowed him to report in his hugely
funny, witty style some picaresque and often scary adventures to show what
these people are worried about and why we should care about them, if only
to
laugh at them.

It is possible that after 9-11, these true stories will not seem as funny
or
harmless as they might have before that date. This is not Ronson's fault;
the book was published in Britain before that outrage. It is true that
much
of the paranoia is based on anti-Semitism, which is also not funny, even if
it is changed into lizard form. Not funny also is the way federal agents
handled the Koresh clan in Waco, or the Weaver family at Ruby Ridge, which
incidents have been incorporated into various paranoid claims. But who is
more paranoid in such incidents, the agents or their targets? This is not
a
pedantic book, but one of its lessons is that "us" and "them" are not a
useful or even demonstrable dichotomy. And even when its many subjects are
nuts, or scary, Them is often laugh-out-loud hilarious.

Consider Thom Robb, with whom Ronson hangs out in the Ozark headquarters of
the Ku Klux Klan, and who is Grand Wizard (or a Grand Wizard, as rival Klan
factions don't accept his leadership). Robb is a cheerful, self
deprecating
man, who reminds Ronson of Woody Allen. Robb wants his own television
show,
a la David Letterman, and he is trying get scary robes and hoods out of the
Klan wardrobe. He is also trying (not too successfully) to get his members
to stop using the N word in public; hilariously, he is embarrassed
repeatedly in front of Ronson when someone uses the word. He is apologetic
about his members who can't figure out how to raise a kerosene-soaked cross
to burn ("We were just debating whether to soak it before we raise it or
raise it before we soak it.") His daughter Anna gives the reluctant
Klansmen the Individual Personality Skills workshop, where they take a test
to classify themselves as "powerful cholerics" or "popular sanguines."
Sure, Robb is still in favor of the white race's superiority and supremacy,
but he professes only love for his fellow whites, not hatred of blacks.
Unfortunately, a lot of Klanspeople think that a Klan without hate is a
Klan
without reason for being. The Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McViegh, for
instance became disenchanted with the new Klan, and set off on his own.

Robb believes in the conspiracy of the New World Order, now in it's most
recent form of the Bilderberg Group. Ronson eventually sits down with a
founding member of this group and learns what it does and does not do, but
according to the conspiracy theorists, what it does not do is a huge amount
of stuff, because it controls everything. He goes with conspiracy
investigator Big Jim Tucker to Portugal to attempt to infiltrate the annual
meeting of the group, which is always held in a five star hotel with
golfing
facilities ("Believe me," says Big Jim, "they're not there to play golf.
They're too busy starting wars.") They end up pursued by a steely man in
sunglasses, and Ronson panics. He calls the British Embassy to rescue him,
pleading, "I am essentially a humorous journalist... I am a humorous
journalist out of my depth." He and Big Jim have a rift over a delusional
quotation Big Jim wants to attribute to Ronson (about how Ronson could tell
Bilderberg members by their smell), one of the few times Ronson catches a
conspiracy theorist out on a matter of clear fact.

Unless those twelve-foot lizards are factual. They are the focus of
endeavor of David Icke, who has enraged other conspiracy theorists by
trumping them. Yes, the Jews (or International Bankers or Illuminati or
the
Bilderberg group) are running everything, but it isn't a matter of any
earthly race. He wants to make sure we know he is not warning us of any
Jewish plot. The plot is hatched by Annunaki lizards, real reptiles, from
the lower fourth dimension. The lizards are competent at shifting shape,
Icke maintains, and that is why George Bush, the Queen of England, and
Boxcar Willie look so deceptively mammalian. Ronson reports on his meeting
with Icke (a former footballer who has not quite made good on his
proclamation that he is the Son of God). Icke's defense against claims
that
he is anti-Semitic simply boil down to "I'm not anti-Semitic, I'm
anti-lizard," but the Anti-Defamation League is not fooled. They are
shocked by the seriousness of his anti-Semitism, and Ronson (himself a Jew)
shows the ADL is just indulging in another form of paranoia by taking
Icke's
very silly ideas seriously.

According to many of the extremists hanging out with Ronson, the
ultra-secret meetings of the top power brokers (reptilian or otherwise) and
the "very heart of Luciferian globalist evil" are at the Bohemian Grove
within the redwoods of northern California. Kissinger, Rockefeller, all
those guys show up and in addition to plotting outcomes of international
intrigues, they have orgies, nocturnal pagan rituals, and ceremonial peeing
rites, and they dress like women or like Elvis. Some of these activities
actually happened, for Ronson has seen them. ("These people may have
reached the apex of their professions but emotionally they seemed to be
trapped in their college years.") He has inexplicably lived to tell his
tale of infiltrating Bohemian Grove, which he secretly entered, not by
trekking through the forest and not by shooting the dangerous rapids
within,
but by dressing like a preppie and, well, walking through the entrance.

Ronson's reporting is dry and ironic. He knows that his subjects are very,
very weird, but he is never patronizing, and he is often impressed by their
sincerity. At times, he finds himself imbued with the paranoia they are
eager to spread, and has to fight back with some degree of rationality. A
very sensible Bilderberg contact explains members are getting older and the
young newbies don't have much interest in being involved. "Let's face it,
nobody rules the world anymore. The markets rule the world. Maybe
that's
why your conspiracy theorists make up all those crazy things. Because the
truth is so much more frightening. Nobody rules the world. Nobody
controls
anything." Of course, that's just what they want you to believe.

Federal Court summary judgment - teaching Bible in public schools

Those interested in irony [the defendants are the Superintendent of
Schools and the School Board in Rhea County, Tennessee . . . the Rhea
County Courthouse in Dayton (just a tad north of Chattanooga) was the site
of the 1925 Scopes Trial concerning the teaching of evolution in public
schools] as well as those interested in teaching the Bible-as-truth in
public schools will find a summary judgment (following oral argument)
issued today by the Federal District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee
at Chattanooga of interest.

A good summary can be found on the site of the local electronic
newspaper:

The summary judgment enjoins the Rhea County Schools from permitting
Bryan College to conduct the "Bible Education Ministry" program in its
elementary schools. A nominal damage of $1 along with reasonable attorney
fees and costs of action were awarded to the plaintiffs, John Doe and Mary
Roe (parents of 2 county children) and the Milwaukee-based Freedom From
Religion Foundation. Identities of the parents are sealed.

Judge Edgar mentions the "Scopes" or "Monkey" trial in his first
paragraph and "waxes eloquent" in spots. Rhea County permitted the
religiously-based Bryan College [required statement of belief of its
faculty & trustees is appended] to operate the program conducted by its
undergraduates [not professionally trained teachers] for 30 minutes each
week, with no lesson plan oversight by the public school system as is
required of all others who teach in the system. The blatant religious
purpose of the lessons is demonstrated by the lesson plans filed by the
students with the college professor supervising the project (appended).

It will be interesting to see the ruling in another case before Judge
Edgar Š ACLU vs. Hamilton County [essentially Chattanooga] in which the
complaint involves the posting of a version of the Ten Commandments in the
Hamilton County Courthouse, the Hamilton County--Chattanooga Courts
Building, and the Hamilton County Juvenile Court Building. The complaint
is available at

-- the next major move by creationists

From Fred Kreissl

Dear Fellow Skeptic,

"Intelligent Design Creationists" are planning a massive rollout for
William
Dembski's new book, NO FREE LUNCH. This book apparently is going to be the
key in upcoming state battles to displace Darwinism and introduce
"intelligent design" into public school science curricula (the next big
push
is planned for Ohio --
http://www.intelligentdesignnetwork.org/OhioPoll.htm).

A few brief rebuttals have appeared on Internet newsgroups and bulletin
boards, but nothing really decisive (the book just came out and is too
new).
I urge those of you with the requisite expertise to thoroughly deconstruct
Dembski's arguments and expose the problems in this book BEFORE the the
intelligent design people get too much mileage from the book (I'm told
there's even talk of trying to get intelligent design as a subsection of
the
NSF much like alternative medicine has a subsection in the NIH).

I realize that creationism of all stripes is laughable. But I'm sure many
people laughed at the Nazis, with their goosesteps and brownshirts. These
intelligent design people are defeatable, but they do need to be defeated.
They seem to be putting their hopes in Dembski. Bring him down, and this
whole mess should start to unravel.

Fred Kreissl

SCOPES II

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has won its "SCOPES II" lawsuit in
Dayton,
Tennessee:

The Rhea County Board of Education today was forcefully ordered by U.S.
District Judge R. Allan Edgar of Chattanooga, TN, to stop conducting an
illegal
Bible Education Ministry program, the subject of a federal lawsuit taken by
the
national Freedom From Religion Foundation on behalf of parents with
children in
Rhea County public schools. "Rhea County, Tennessee, is no stranger to
religious controversy," writes Judge Edgar, in the opening of his 19-page
decision. "In 1925, the Rhea County Courthouse was the site of the well
known
'Scopes' or 'Monkey' trial, wherein high school teacher John Scopes was
tried
for violating a Tennessee statute making it a misdemeanor to teach
'evolution
theory' in the State's public schools. The trial pitted William Jennings
Bryan, the 'Great Commoner,' representing the State, against Clarence
Darrow
for the defense. The legacy of that trial in some respects gives rise to
this
lawsuit."

The Foundation's lawsuit on behalf of John Doe and Mary Roe, pitted the
rights
of the parents, who are under a protective court order in the hostile
Dayton-area community, against an obdurate school system, which refused to
honor more than five decades of Supreme Court precedent against religious
instruction in the public schools. The bible instruction, carried out for
decades in grades kindergarten through five in three Rhea County elementary
schools, has been taught during regular school hours for 30 minutes each
week
without parental consent. The bible program is operated by students from
Bryan
College (a bible-based college founded after the Scopes trial) to help
public
schools students become "exposed to the Bible," with no public school
oversight. An assistant professor who is Director of Practical Christian
Involvement supervises the program, which Judge Edgar characterized as what
might be found in "a Sunday School class in many of the Christian churches
in
Rhea County."

"The lesson plans retained by Bryan College," Edgar wrote, "reveal that the
children are being taught that the Bible conveys literal truth about God
and
Jesus Christ reflective of the Bryan College 'Statement of Belief,'" that
the
bible is literally true. Students are asked to memorize bible verses, act
out
skits of biblical stories, and sing songs such as "Jesus Loves Me," "My God
Is
So Great," "Pharaoh, Pharaoh," "Twelve Men Want to Spy on Canaan," "Shout
to
the Lord," "Change My Heart, Oh God," and "I'm In The Lord's Army." At
oral
argument, the judge's decision noted, counsel for defendants even admitted
the
bible is being presented "as the truth." Aside from the content, Edgar
said,
"the wholesale delegation of the administration of that program to Bryan
College, a decidedly religious institution, by itself results in an
impermissible entanglement of government and religion." ". . . the
government,
through its public school system, may not teach, or allow the teaching of a
distinct religious viewpoint. This is what the Rhea County School Board
has
done by allowing the teaching of the Bible through the BEM program.....
[acting] with both the purpose and effect to endorse and advance religion
in
the public schools," Edgar wrote. "The Rhea County courses are being
taught to
the youngest and most impressionable school children by college students
who
have no discernible educational training and no supervision by the school
system." "This is not a close case," Edgar observed, pointing out that
since
1948, when McCollum v. Board of Education was decided by the Supreme Court,
religious instruction in public schools has been barred. The Rhea County
practices do not differ substantially from McCollum, "except that, if
anything,
they make out an even stronger case for violation of the Establishment
Clause,"
Edgar concluded.

Vashti McCollum, the Champaign, Illinois mother who brought the McCollum
challenge, is in her eighties, and is an honorary officer of the
Foundation.
The Foundation recently reprinted a new edition of her acclaimed account of
her
dramatic lawsuit, One Woman's Fight. Also cited as precedent is Abington
v.
Schempp, against prayers in public schools. Ed Schempp, who brought that
case
with his son, is also an honorary Foundation officer. "We're delighted
with
Judge Edgar's eloquent opinion upholding the rights of public school
children--who are a captive audience, to be free from such overt religious
proselytizing," said Dan Barker, public relations director of the Freedom
From
Religion Foundation. "The Bible Education Ministry program was a flagrant
and
atavistic First Amendment violation. It's tremendously satisfying to see
the
wall of separation between church and state be reinforced by such a strong
decision." The lawsuit, filed in April 2001, arose after the school
district
ignored letters from the Freedom From Religion Foundation pointing out that
the
practice violates numerous Supreme Court decisions. The attorneys
representing
the Foundation and its plaintiffs are Joseph H. Johnston, Nashville, and
Steve
Doughty and Alvin Harris, Nashville. John Doe, Mary Roe, and Freedom From
Religion Foundation v. Sue Porter, Supt. of the Rhea County School System,
and
Rhea County Board of Education, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of
Tennessee at Chattanooga, Case No. 1:01-cv-115

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., is a national
association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics and others) working since
1978
to keep church and state separate.

For media members:
If you are a member of the media and would like to receive periodic news
releases from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, click here.

For others:
If you are not a member of the media and would like information on joining
the
Freedom From Religion Foundation, click here.

Galaxy is 'stuck in reverse' - Your News from Ananova

Astronomers have found a spiral galaxy which is spinning in the wrong
direction.

The spiral arms of galaxies usually trail behind but the Hubble telescope
has revealed that two arms of one point forward.

Astronomers think the unusual structure may have been caused by a crash
with a smaller galaxy.

New entry for SKEPTIC Bibliography (Christino)

Evangeline Adams was the most famous astrologer of the early
20th century. Astrologers revere her, and many fantastic predictions
have been attributed to her. Though an astrologer herself, Karen
Christino tries to be objective and sort out the facts about her
biographical subject. Do we believe that Adams was a terrific
astrologer or someone who exaggerated her successes in order to
impress the public? Did she really forecast World War II or the stock
market crash of 1929? It's up to the reader to decide, since
Christino documents the facts and examines Adams as a real person and
not just a legend. We're given insight into what drove Adams to such
an unusual profession in 1900, her troubles with the law and her
unfulfilling marriage to a much younger man. The sections describing
the development of the occult in the US, including information on
palmistry and spiritualism and Adams's relationship with the infamous
magician Aleister Crowley, areparticularly good, especially since
there aren't many sources on these topics which address them
sensibly. Readers intrigued by astrology, the occult or New Age
topics and are tired of all the flaky, off-the-wall books out there
will enjoy _Foreseeing the Future_. It brings a sometimes mysterious
topic down to earth and tells an entertaining yarn at the same time.